CLH Center for Spirituality and Aging to Host 6th Annual International Conference on Ageing and Spirituality

Four-day conference in Los Angeles this fall to feature internationally known speakers and experts

Issues and topics related to aging and spirituality will take center stage this fall as the California Lutheran Homes Center for Spirituality and Aging hosts the 6th International Conference on Ageing and Spirituality.

“The CLH Center for Spirituality and Aging is excited to host the 6th International conference,” said Nancy Gordon, the Center’s director. “Our goal is to give participants unique insight into the spiritual journey of aging as well as practical suggestions on how to better serve the needs of older adults.”

The 6th International Conference, to take place October 4-7 2015 at the California Endowment's Center for Healthy Communities in Los Angeles, continues a series of international conferences which began in Canberra, Australia in 2000. This year’s conference titled Paradox and Promise in the Pilgrimage of Aging will be hosted in the United States for the first time.

The 2015 event will include a mixture of keynote speakers in the areas of gerontology, spirituality, workshops and the presentation of papers of interest to those coming from a faith-based approach and to those approaching spirituality from a secular viewpoint.

Plenary speakers scheduled to attend are Jane M. Thibault, MA, MSSW, Ph.D, emerita clinical professor of geriatrics and gerontology in the Department of Family and Geriatric Medicine at the School of Medicine, University of Louisville, KY; Keith Albans, PH.D, BD, senior chaplain to Methodist Homes in Great Britain; Elizabeth MacKinlay, AM, FACN, Ph.D, professor in the School of Theology, Charles Stuart University; Ralph Kunz, M.Th, Ph.D, Ph.D habil, professor in practical theology with special focus on homiletics and pastoral care at the University of Zurich; Rabi Dayle Friedman MA, MSW, MA, founder and director of Growing Older – Wisdom + Spirit Beyond Midlife; and Mary Catherine Bateson BA, Ph.D, scholar, writer and cultural anthropologist.

“We chose the workshop theme because many cultures and religions have ‘pilgrimages’ to sacred places as part of their tradition,” Nancy said. “A pilgrimage is more than arriving at a destination; it includes the process of the journey—the delays, the inconveniences, the joys, the company in which one travels. The aging experience itself is paradoxical. The 6th International Conference will explore these themes as well as others.”

For more information about the conference, visit spiritualityandaging.org or contact Nancy Gordon at ngordon@frontporch.net or 714-507-1370.


CALIFORNIA LUTHERAN HOMES AND COMMUNITY SERVICES

California Lutheran Homes and Community Services (CLH) is a not-for-profit social ministry organization founded in 1947. CLH’s mission is meeting needs through ‘faith in action’ including support for residents of affordable housing communities managed by partner CARING Housing Ministries, and residents of Front Porch retirement communities, care centers and active-adult communities. CLH-sponsored retirement and active-adult living communities include Carlsbad By The Sea in Carlsbad, CA; Walnut Village in Anaheim, CA, England Oaks in Alexandria, VA and Cecil Pines in Jacksonville, FL. Among the programs and services supported by CLH are the CLH Center for Spirituality and Aging, whose mission is to meet the needs of older adults based on the understanding that aging is a spiritual journey; the Front Porch Gallery, which creates community by promoting an understanding of aging through art; the Front Porch Center for Innovation and Wellbeing, which enhances wellbeing and quality of life through the adaptive use of technology; the CLH Auxiliary; and the Charitable Care Fund, which supports residents in need who have outlived their finances. 
 

Framing Stories with Hope

by Nancy Gordon, Director California Lutheran Homes and Sunny View Centers for Spirituality and Aging, a Front Porch Partner

Since I started serving in the older adult world, I’ve had many elders tell me that growing old is a difficult process. As the saying goes, “It’s not for sissies.” They are often a bit bemused that they’ve lived so long and are sometimes unsure how to frame the future. What does hope look like at 90?

I’ve been thinking that as the losses mount up as we age that there needs to be room for lament. So often we tell ourselves and the elders we work with to “be positive!” It’s good to have a positive attitude, but it’s also good, I think, to be able to name what has been lost and to take some time to lament the loss of something that is precious. I’ve sometimes wondered if the elders we tend to label as “complainers” might end up that way because their important losses weren't validated and noted.

Read article in full at: California Lutheran Homes and Sunny View Centers for Spirituality and Aging

Creating a Story of Hope in the Face of Dementia

by Nancy Gordon, Director California Lutheran Homes and Sunny View Centers for Spirituality and Aging, a Front Porch Partner

Just note the momentary panic that we feel when a word or a name is on the “tip of the tongue,” when we can’t find our keys or our glasses, when we realize we’ve forgotten to pay a bill or make an important phone call. We joke about these “senior moments” and fervently hope that it’s just a temporary lapse, not the beginning of something more serious. So what is it that we are so afraid of? 

Dementia is an umbrella term describing a variety of diseases and conditions that develop when nerve cells in the brain die or no longer function normally. Alzheimer’s disease accounts for 60 to 80 percent of dementia cases. Other types of dementia are vascular dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies, mixed dementia, and Parkinson’s disease.

Read article in full at the Lutheran Services of America Newsletter

Alzheimer's Caregivers - Create a New Lens, Explore the Opportunities

By Nancy Gordon, director of the California Lutheran Homes Center for Spirituality and Aging 

A frequently cited statistic is after the age of 50, the disease most feared is Alzheimer’s—more feared than cancer, stroke, and heart disease.

Explore the possibilities and opportunities for creative expression,
expansion of spirit, flourishing of relationships, the sharing of hope and joy.  Getty

There is good reason for this fear. Alzheimer’s disease (and other causes of dementia) robs the sufferer of what seems most intrinsic to their selfhood: their ability to remember, to think and problem solve, and to hold up their end of the conversation. For those who love them, the confusion, the sometimes delusional thinking, and the blankness that comes over their faces is heartbreaking. We do seem to be losing them bit-by-bit, and we fear that someday we may lose ourselves in the same way...

Read article in full at About.com